Latin dances encompass emotion and passion

During Hispanic Heritage month, there are many ways to go out and explore Latin American culture – but one of the most fun and vibrant ways to do it is by dance.

“Latin dance is based on emotion,” said Amandine Mondelice, a fifth-year SKEMA student studying international business. “You get to let go, like you don’t have to feel pressure on your body. You just get to let go and kind of – not lose yourself – but let go of yourself, with your partner, and you kind of forget about other things.”

There are many types of Latin dances, from all over Latin America, and each dance is beautiful, diverse and passionate. There is the cha-cha, mambo, rumba, cumbia, tango and samba. Three of the most popular Latin dances in the Triangle area are the salsa, merengue and bachata, according to the website Lovetoknow Entertainment.

Salsa is a dance that had its start in Eastern Cuba at the beginning of the 20th century as a combination of Spanish and Afro-Cuban elements, according to the website SalsaGente. As it grew, it continued collecting influences and changing with the culture it belonged to, mixing in elements of American Jazz in Havana in the 1950s and continuing to grow in popularity. By the end of the decade, it had found its way to the U.S. with many of the musicians and dancers that settled there, and salsa as we know it today emerged, with household-name artists such as Tito Puente and Celia Cruz.

“Salsa was where I started, which I realized later was a little roundabout,” said Colin Greatwood, a fifth-year student studying mechanical engineering. “Everyone I met was like, ‘you don’t know bachata, but you can salsa decently? Well, you should learn the easy one first, and then go learn some more salsa!’”

So if this is your first time getting into Latin dance, just know that salsa is considered to be a little bit difficult for beginners, but it’s also a lot of fun.

“I think that you can do a lot more fancy stuff with it, and you can show off,” said Anh Doan, a senior studying human biology with a minor in Spanish. “I also like how there are different ‘ways’ to it; there’s a lot of variation. I like watching other people dance it because everyone dances salsa differently. There’s Cuban salsa, Colombian salsa and so on.”

Merengue, also known as the national Dance of the Dominican Republic, is even older than the salsa. Much of the origin of this style is unknown, but there are different versions of stories on how it came to be – one of which claims that it began as the emulation of a war hero who came home with a limp, according to the website CentralHome.

Having existed since about the time of the Spanish-American War, it has had plenty of time to spread, and is very popular throughout the Caribbean and South America. For beginners to Latin dance, this is one of the simplest styles to learn, with a clear beat and a simple, constant rhythm. Some of the most famous artists in this style are Juan Luis Guerra from the Dominican Republic, and Elvis Crespo from Puerto Rico.

Bachata, which means party or social gathering, is another style of Latin dance with roots that trace back to the Dominican Republic (with plenty of Cuban and Caribbean influence), according to the website, My Dance Productions. It began in 1920, born and raised amongst the poorest social classes of the country, causing it to be considered lower class for a long time and making it difficult for it grow in popularity. For this reason, although it has existed since about 1920, it has just recently become one of the most popular Latin styles. If you’re interested in checking out some of the music, some of the most popular bachata artists are Aventura, Xtreme and Prince Royce.

“My favorite type is bachata, because salsa is more technique,” Mondelice said. “Bachata is still technique, but you get a more sensual part. It’s really emotional as a dance – you really have to feel your partner, the way he goes and how he dances. It’s kind of a connection. I really love the sound of it as well.”

So why should you try Latin dancing, if you’ve never done it before?

“The United States, for me, is multicultural,” Mondelice said. “In order to learn about new cultures you also need to learn about new dances as well, and I feel that Latin dance is a very different universe. It’s good when you want to discover something new. When you want to dance, you really want to use your whole body – it’s a perfect thing to do. So for people who love to dance, or for people who don’t, they can still try, and they might love it.”

Latin dance is both about the celebration of the beautiful parts of life and the overcoming of the difficult parts, according to Greatwood. No matter where people come from or how long they’ve been dancing, even if they’ve never danced before, it’s something worth trying simply to experience the togetherness and the celebration and the escape from daily life.

“I think that Latin dance shows a larger population what humans can do or be for one another,” Greatwood said. “Everyone has had some kind of hardship or tragedy in their life, and while that may have been a very real situation, whatever it was, it doesn’t mean that you should close yourself off to the world. That level of very optimistic friend-seeking or family-seeking is very hard to come by, and I think that this kind of dance is one way to read people, very openly. I think a lot of people could benefit from that – not just the introverts but the extroverts as well, people that want to come together and just be accepted by a community. On the dance floor, that’s what you do, you just laugh it off.”

Another great aspect of Latin dancing, according to Doan, is that it is a great way to reduce stress and to have fun.

“When I think about Latin dancing, I think about love, and a temporary connection you have with your partner,” Doan said. “It’s very sexy and romantic. What’s beautiful about it is that it looks good as long as you’re having fun. It’s my getaway from all the stresses in school.”

And you don’t have to be an expert to try it out.

“I have almost no background in Latin dancing, actually,” Greatwood said. “I’m a jazz trumpet player so my passion has always been jazz music and jazz performance. For that very reason, I decided to pick up some different forms of dancing. It was kind of like a football player learning to do ballet. For me, learning to dance salsa and bachata is a supplement to the music; you feel it a lot more.”

Because Latin peoples are so diverse, Latin dances are extremely diverse. You don’t have to be from a specific culture, age group or any other demographic to become part of the Latin dancing community.

“Most people think that the only people who would be attracted to Latin dance are Latin people, but I’m black, there are white people, there are all kinds of ethnicities that are coming,” Mondelice said. “It is a good way to get people together, to have a warm moment, a moment of conviviality. I think you forget about your backgrounds and just try something new together.”

If you are interested in checking it out, learning some new dances, and meeting new people, one useful resource is www.dancegumbo.com/latin. Here, there are lists, by week, of where you can find Latin dance events on what nights. Many of them start with 30-minute lessons, and then free dance time begins. Be sure to check the descriptions to see what each event offers.

“As soon as someone plays that right song, it’ll start, and it won’t stop,” Greatwood said. “And it’s great! It’s a very quick way to get to know people, and it’s naturally built into the culture. They’re great talkers, great dancers, and I’m lucky to be a part of it.”